Attorneys Stephen Larson, middle, and Jennifer Keller, left, discuss their case with defendant Jeff Burum, one of four defendants currently on trial in the San Bernardino County’s Colonies corruption case.

SAN BERNARDINO >> Former San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Postmus testified Tuesday in the Colonies corruption trial that he never thought a $102 million settlement favorable to a Rancho Cucamonga developer 11 years ago would result in kickback money to him — a statement that goes to the heart of the six-year-old case.

Postmus, testifying for his eighth day, told defense attorney Jennifer Keller he was “100 percent” certain that he was not getting a bribe when he and three others each received $100,000 from Colonies Partners LP in 2007. The money came in the form of contributions to political action committees the recipients were affiliated with and which prosecutors allege were used to conceal the bribes.

A prosecution witness, Postmus has now testified several times he did not see the money as a bribe. Postmus was once a defendant in the case, but made a plea deal with prosecutors in 2011 to testify against the others.

He also agreed Tuesday with defense suggestions that his damaging statements made during the 2011 investigation were affected by his addiction to methamphetamine and by suggestions from district attorney investigators to change his narrative.

Postmus at one point brought up, unprompted, his practice of huffing during 2011 because he had built up a tolerance for methamphetamine and was no longer feeling the euphoric effects of the drug. He said huffing — inhaling chemical vapors from substances such as aerosols — causes memory loss and brain damage.

“That became my new addiction in the latter part of my using before I finally got clean, and that is much more worse than amphetamines,” Postmus said.

He said his huffing peaked in 2011. Postmus maintains he has been sober since 2012.

Keller noted how the content of Postmus’ statements migrated from neutral to damaging during his five recorded interviews with district attorney investigators and testimony before grand jurors. Those recordings have been played in the San Bernardino courtroom of Judge Michael A. Smith during Postmus’ testimony.

Postmus initially told investigators that he and defendant and Colonies co-managing partner Jeff Burum did not discuss the Colonies case during a California business promotional trip to China in 2005, but told a 2011 grand jury that they did, Keller noted.

Keller also cited Postmus’ early statement to investigators that Burum said he would support Postmus in the future, regardless of whether a settlement was reached in the Colonies case. But then Postmus told the grand jury the promise did depend on a Colonies settlement.

“You now understand that that narrative that developed over the course of the those five interviews … you now understand that was an example of a false belief?” Keller asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” Postmus replied. He said investigators pushed him to respond how he did.

Postmus was chairman of the Board of Supervisors when in November 2006 it approved, on a 3-2 vote, a $102 million payout to Colonies Partners to settle the litigation, which ended a nearly five-year legal battle over flood control work at Colonies’ 343-acre residential and commercial development in Upland. He was voted county assessor that same month in the general election.

The settlement became the subject of a criminal investigation by the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office in November 2008. The state Attorney General’s Office subsequently joined in the case.

Prosecutors allege three former top county officials each took $100,000 bribes, which were reported as campaign contributions, from Colonies Partners LP to gain approval of the $102 million settlement. Defendants include Burum, former county supervisor Paul Biane, former county Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin, and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff for former county Supervisor Gary Ovitt.

All four defendants deny doing anything wrong, maintaining that the contributions to political action committees were publicly documented and an effort to mend political relationships soured by the contentious civil litigation.

In other testimony Tuesday, prosecutor Lewis Cope elicited from Postmus that Postmus’ attorney, Stephen Levine, arranged with prosecutors to have armed district attorney investigators accompany him to and from court and to guard him in court while he testifies.

The use of guards was not the idea of the District Attorney’s Office, Postmus said, adding that he was initially fearful of stepping into the courtroom, sitting before the defendants and spectators and testifying. He told Keller that anxiety has since waned.

And while Postmus denied expecting any rewards from Burum for marshalling an agreement in the Colonies case, Cope did bring out testimony that the two were in close communication during one development in the case.

After a 2006 retrial over flood control issues between San Bernardino County and Colonies Partners, Judge Christopher Warner issued a July 31 tentative decision that accused county officials of deceit, coercion and jeopardizing public safety.

Postmus issued a news release the next day, saying efforts to settle the case earlier had been sabotaged by leaks to the news media, that the Board of Supervisors had received poor legal advice, and that an earlier settlement “could have saved the taxpayers of this county tens of millions of dollars.”

Postmus told Cope on Tuesday that he emailed a draft of the release to Burum for review before making it public, and that it was to earn “brownie points” with Burum.

Postmus said his memory was less clear on whether he had met with Burum’s then-publicist Patrick O’Reilly on July 24 and 25, 2006.

Cope asked Postmus if he remembered talking to O’Reilly on July 31, 2006, regarding the issues. Postmus said he did not.

“I did meet with Mr. Burum from time to time, but I don’t remember this specific meeting,” Postmus said.

Joe Nelson is an award-winning investigative reporter who has worked for The Sun since November 1999. He started as a crime reporter and went on to cover a variety of beats including courts and the cities of Colton, Highland and Grand Terrace. He has covered San Bernardino County since 2009. Nelson is a graduate of California State University Fullerton. In 2014, he completed a fellowship at Loyola Law School's Journalist Law School program.

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